8 Proven Ways to Promote Your Business on Instagram
Lately, Instagram has been getting a bad rap for stealing features from other up and coming social media networks. Despite the hate it’s getting, there’s no denying how powerful Instagram is when it comes to social media marketing.
While Instagram may not be the most original platform out there, it’s also apparent that they know how to take things to the next level by innovating and upgrading the features they’ve copied from others.
Just this year, Instagram announced that they are launching split-screen capabilities on their Stories feature. This new update will surely make Instagram Stories more engaging and collaborations a lot easier.
Instagram isn’t showing any signs of backing down when it comes to upgrading their platform. As a business owner, it would be a shame if you don’t use this social media platform to promote your business to an even wider audience. Get on the train now, and see where it goes!
Find out how you can effectively market your brand on Instagram with these tried-and-tested tips below.
Posting At The Right Times
There’s been an ongoing debate on whether or not there’s a golden hour for posting on Instagram. You'll stumble upon studies that say posting at a specific hour, regardless of niche, can get you the most engagement.
While these studies about the perfect hours to post may be accurate in some aspects, we find that there's no end-all-be-all posting schedule for every brand on Instagram.
The best posting schedule for your brand depends on your specific audience and their online surfing behavior.
Instead of spending time comparing notes with a brand that’s completely different from yours, you should focus your energy on getting to know more about your audience and the kind of users you want to attract. What time are they usually online? Are they usually on mobile or desktop?
If you have an Instagram Business account, you should play around with all the data you have access to through the in-depth analytics page.
Image credit: Social Media Today
Now is the perfect time to experiment with different posting schedules to find the one that works best for your brand and audience.
Avoid wasting all your resources by getting acquainted with data that’s unique to your brand and target audience.
Collaboration is King
Instagram is home to some of the most powerful influencers on the internet. Working with influencers means giving yourself an opportunity to amplify your brand message to a wider audience.
Fashion Nova is a viral fashion brand that has quickly gained massive attention thanks to their regular collaborations with celebrities and influencers.
According to Fashion Nova’s CEO and founder Richard Saghian, their brand works with close to 2,000 to 3,000 influencers. This fashion brand uses its tight-knit network of influencers to help them reach as many people as possible.
If you’re looking for ways to amplify your brand message, consider working with both high-reaching and micro-influencers within your niche. Instagram influencers can help you convince and convert Instagram users into paying customers with a single post.
Pay to Play with Instagram Ads
Another way you can promote your business on Instagram is by purchasing ads. Compared to other social media platforms, Instagram has a more flexible payment scheme when it comes to their ads.
Instagram ads work just like Facebook ads wherein you set the budget for your entire campaign. You don’t have to worry about spending more than you’re able to because you’ll only be paying for ads that give results, a good feature for small businesses with limited budgets.
Image credit: Instagram for Business
Instagram also offers a variety of ad formats that give you a little leeway for creativity. You can post images, videos, GIFs, and even carousel ads to make your posts more engaging.
You can use the different ad formats to make your ad appear as native as possible. You need to keep in mind that Instagram ads run alongside user uploaded content, that means your ads need to look as organic as possible in everyone’s feed.
To learn more about purchasing ad spots on Instagram, check out their comprehensive guide here.
Link Your Sales Page in the Bio
Instagram only allows you to put one clickable link in your entire profile, so you have to make it count.
Many brands fail to include a link to their sales page or website in their bio section, which causes them to miss out on high-quality traffic and conversions from potential customers.
The whole point of improving your presence on Instagram is to convince people to visit your site. You need to make it as convenient as possible for your followers to check out your website, and linking it back using the bio section is the way to do it.
Play Around With Instagram Stories
Instagram has a Snapchat-like feature (of course) that allows you to engage with your followers on a more personal level. The Instagram Stories feature lets you post disappearing images, videos, and even live streams that are played continuously through tapping motions.
Just recently, Instagram announced that you can now take your live streamed stories to a whole new level with split-screen capability.
Image credit: The Verge
This new update gives you an opportunity to collaborate and make Stories with your entire team without having to be in the same room.
If you haven’t dabbled with Instagram Stories yet, now is the time to do it. They can help you build a more meaningful connection with your followers and potential customers.
Brand Yourself
These days, thinking like a brand on Instagram is not enough. You also have to look like one. If your promotional efforts are falling short on Instagram, you might want to rethink your branding strategy.
You might be paying too much attention to your feed while neglecting your profile overall. Although it only takes up very little space on the screen, your profile speaks a lot about your brand.
Tentsile is a camping brand that uses stunning images and a well-crafted bio to gain the branding mile. A quick skim of their bio section would instantly tell you that they have a strong environmental stance as a brand.
Your bio description can make or break your branding image, so put a lot of thought into crafting it.
Establish Yourself
Searchability is among the most ominous challenges a brand must face on Instagram.
Given how saturated Instagram is right now, it's safe to assume gaining some credibility on a noteworthy scale can be difficult. If you're serious about turning more heads, you should consider purchasing high-quality Instagram Followers from a provider you can trust.
Buying high-quality followers is like giving yourself a running start to stand out from the competition. Bought Instagram followers from a reputable provider can help you attract organic users to your profile, who will stay when they see how great your content is.
Artificial social signals are engineered to help draw more people to your account. Once people begin noticing your impressive social proof, they will surely pay more attention to your posts.
Make it Exclusive
Establishing a sense of exclusivity is one way to generate hype around your brand on Instagram.
Giving exclusive deals and discounts to your followers encourages brand loyalty while inviting the right kind of attention from other users who are currently outside your own little private club.
Promoting your business on Instagram is all about positioning your brand in the most attractive light possible – and what better way to do just that than by giving your followers something they can't get anywhere else.
You can periodically give away loyalty discounts among your existing followers, for example. By making discounts exclusive to followers, you're inviting more users to follow your profile, giving you an opportunity to market your brand to more people and improving your reputation online.
Instagram is Your Marketing Playing Field
It’s true that Instagram is a heavily populated platform, but that shouldn’t stop you from utilizing it to your marketing advantage.
In order for you to successfully promote your business on Instagram, you have to have a strategy in place and you must follow through with it as consistently as possible.
You also need to find efficient ways to draw more attention to your account. That means sprucing up your profile, utilizing all the available features, and purchasing high-quality Followers from a reputable provider.
By being smart about your strategy, you’ll get more done and achieve your marketing goals at a faster pace.
Instagram is one of the busiest platforms out there, and it would be a shame if you let yourself miss out on the promising level of engagement it has to offer your business.
Date: August 18, 2017 / Categories: Guide, Marketing, / Author: Mariko
